The title says it all. They are all NIB guns with 30" barrels to be used for sporting clays, trap, and skeet, in that order. If you own or have owned one of them, please let me know as your comments will obviously hold a little more weight!

I have many shotguns. One side by side an over under and several pumps.

I like my Benelli because it balances well and fits me. I also have a Mossberg 500 that fits well.

My point is that for any weapon to be your favorite it just has to fit you well and you have to be comfortable.

I am sure there are more technical terms I don't know to explain why any of these are better than the other, but for me it boils down to what I am comfortable with.

Mel

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Out of those listed.. It would be the A400 followed by the Benelli Supersport... Although they handle well, in terms of overall reliability the 1100 is left in the dust by all the current offerings.. I own an 1100 and I really don't care for it.. I feel that mine was obsolete when it was produced in 1981.. Anything more than 150 rounds between cleaning and mine starts to hiccup..

__________________1. The pattern board is your friend, use the Dam thing!!!2. The maximum range of a firearm and/or cartridge, is usually measured in miles, and means nothing.2a. The effective range of a firearm and/or cartridge, is usually (the ability of the shooter) measured in yards, and means everything.

Benelli Super Sport is my choice...and I like it for an all around semi-auto because it does most everything pretty well / I've had the 30" in a 12ga since they first came out / and bought a 20ga 28" about 4 yrs ago for the grandkids to shoot - and as a training gun for new shooters.

Its a very light gun ...even in a 30" barrel its only a shade over 7 lbs...so the 30" barrel helps me smooth out my swing with a light gun.

Inertia action - shoots very clean.../ so I don't worry about it even if I'm shooting 250 or more shells a day ( gas guns are better than they used to be - but they're still dirtier than an Inertia gun).

Adjustability on Super Sport is easy....I have 3 optional comb pads, 3 different recoil pads ( grandkids are from 9 - 21 -- so I need a variety )...shims between receiver and stock are easy to change. Adjustability is a plus...

Super sport comes apart real easy .../ top of receiver comes off after barrel, etc....taking the bolt apart is a 1 minute job .../ drop trigger group out -- clean and lube in 5 min / put it together in 3 min ....and you're ready again after lunch or for next day of shooting...

Super Sport is not a great Trap gun....but it excels as general use....Skeet, Sporting Clays, 5 Stand and live upland birds...and I have used it for waterfowl a few times ( just tape it up with camo tape ) to hide receiver and reflective barrel. I use mine as an "airlines Travel gun" and as a "foul weather" gun...vs a wood stocked Over Under.

But none of the guns on your list are dogs ...in my view.
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Picking a gun ....is about knowing what stock dimensions you need ...or making darn sure you pick a gun with the maximum amount of adjustability...so you can make it fit.

I've fired a few shells thru all the guns on your list...that other guys own ...but I wouldn't trade my Super Sports for any of them / the Rem 1100's are pretty old technology ...and while its still a solid gun, I think its the weakest option on your list.

I have a super sport and have been very happy with it as an all around do a little of everything gun. I have had or shot all the others on your list and would still pick the super sport for a gun that can do a lot of jobs. I have used it for all of your listed applications plus hunting and it has done the job. If you are going to specialize in one thing, like trap, there are better options. But for one gun to do a lot of different things it works well. The thing I like the most is it is light and not a pain to carry all day. Also, for me, the felt recoil is much less than my Beretta gas gun. If it is too light you can add weighted caps to the fore end to smooth out the swing for clays then take them off when you do not need it.

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Seams like once we the people give what, at the time, seams like a reasonable inch and "they" take the unreasonable mile we can only get that mile back one inch at a time.

No spelun and grammar is not my specialty. So please don't hurt my sensitive little feelings by teasing me about it.

Why not a 30" barrel for Skeet...?? .../ all of my general use O/U's ...some primarily for Skeet and Sporting Clays are 30" barrels - and in weights from 8 - 8.5 lbs are common ( even my 28ga and my .410 O/U's are Browning XS Skeet models in 30" barrels...and like I said before, I like the 30" barrel on a light semi-auto so I get a longer sight plane with the lighter gun. To me a 30" barrel on an O/U just feels great - well balanced, heavy enough to smooth out my swing on Skeet and Sporting Clays targets.

30" O/U's seem to be dominating the Skeet and sporting clays world these days among a lot of serious competitors - at least in my area.

32" and 34" barrels are common on Trap fields / and Trap guns tend to be heavier ( up around 10 lbs commonly ).

( I still see some 28" barrels on Skeet fields....but I don't see many 26" barrels anymore...not even among my buddies in their late 60's and 70's...most all of us went to longer guns over the last 15 yrs or so )...

note:....among the gas guns, Beretta has dominated the sporting clays fields in semi-autos for at least the last 15 yrs in my area....price right and durable / 1100's are still around, but they're a clear minority these days...

The current fashion is to longer barrels on target guns. I started shooting skeet with a 26", and I still prefer that, but I can live with a 28". A 30" or 32" barrel on a 20 gauge is just silly to me, but I freely admit I am not obsessive about it, and I really don't give a hoot what anyone else at the range thinks about what I am shooting. IMO most people care more about that than how they actually shoot.
Fashion is also why you see more I-talian semi autos than 1100s in my opinion. My 1100s are dead reliable, but I do give them at least a quick 5 minute spray and wipe anytime I shoot 5 rounds or 500, before I put them away. Current vogue is to brag how long you can go before cleaning. My Grandaddy would not approve.

__________________What could have happened... did.

I do not trust Remington's dating service accuracy. If they were Match.com, you could end up with Nancy Pelosi.

Go to Argentina and shoot 3000 Doves and you will find out that anything semiauto will fall apart quickly except the Benelli or the Beretta. The 1100 is a good shotgun and I have killed many a bird with one but it's heavy and it's old technology.

From those that are voting for the 1100... You keep mentioning the strict cleaning regiment to keep it running but act like it's a good thing. Is there something about the gun that makes it better than the others that completely outweighs the need to constantly maintain it? I like the idea of reduced felt recoil, but if I can get that with one of the other guns, and not need to worry about spraying it down with break free every hundred rounds, I think I'd like that route. I agree with Virginian that one should take care of their firearms, but there's something to be said for being able to take it out of the safe and not have to worry about it choking until the next available time to clean it, whether that be after every range trip or after 10.
Reading different reviews on action types, one doesn't have to read too far to hear that Benelli's inertia action doesn't reduce recoil and the writer doesn't like them for clays. When you talk to anyone that has shot a Benelli, one of the first things they say is how soft it seems to shoot. Are the writers referring to wood stocked guns without the experience of comfortech stocks? I understand how the action works, and that it can't reduce recoil, but just curious if the comfortech makes up for it enough to be as "soft" as a gas gun.

if you have to spray some thing on your rem 1100 every 100 rounds,some thing else is wrong with it. i shoot four rem 1100,s, a 28ga sporting, a 20ga on the 12ga frame,a 12ga with four extra barrels set up for trap-five stand-sporting clays and 12ga 3 inch with 30 inch barrel and a rem 12ga 1187. i try to take them apart and clean every 600 rounds. i,m sure there are better,but these work and i already have them(i bought the 1100 three inch mag new for 159.99 and have never had a ftf-fte in it.) eastbank

Super Sport models come with the comfort tech system built in....and they're at least as soft shooting as most gas guns, in my view ...and they're lighter, which in terms of recoil reduction is a negative.

The Super Sport model of the Benelli is certainly a good clays gun .../ but I wouldn't take it over one of my O/U's in terms of swing characteristics and the good option of having 2 barrels - for 2 choke options. There are no cycling issues on an O/U --- if you can cram the shell into the chamber ( a little crack in the hull or a bad crimp doesn't matter ) and get the gun closed...it will fire. You can't say that about any semi-auto.../ and a gun that won't cycle means lost targets....

Dirtiness depends on the shells you're using...and if you use the cheap promo shells ...they will gum up a semi-auto gas gun pretty quickly.

I clean every gun I shoot....shotguns, handguns, etc....after every range trip ....this concept of not having time to do that makes no sense to me. But if I were shooting a gas gun...at the lunch break in a tournament, I'd definitely clean and lube it - just to be sure it would cycle/ especially if it was old technology like the 1100. I don't have to do that with a Benelli Super Sport or an Over Under...

Yes, the wood stocked Benelli's ( they can't have the comfort tech ) probably give you 15 - 20% more recoil...for a given shell ...over the comfort tech guns.

Cycling time on some of the old technology gas guns is also an issue...on the super sport ...I treat it the same as my O/U's..it cycles quickly, so I just pull the trigger on the 2nd shot without having to hesitate for it to cycle...the old Auto 5's as an example, are pretty slow to cycle...and so are some of the older gas guns...today's gas guns, its not a big deal.

I clean any gun any time I shoot it. Not a complete detail strip, but a quick spray and wipe. 5 minutes at the most, usually less. Even stainless revolvers. I like an 1100 because I can hit what I am shooting at with one better than anything else I have shot in 54 years, except a Wingmaster, and that's a tie. Over 40 other shotguns have come and gone at my house in that period, and I shot I don't know how many others, so it is not like I haven't tried about everything there is. They do run a little dirtier than some newer designs, but not so dirty I have ever had one stop running on me, even with filthy heavy Blue Dot reloads. I don't really want to know how long it could go between cleanings.
I will never go to Argentina and shoot 300 doves, much less 3,000. Just not my cup of tea. If you like it, more power to you. I know they are so numerous you can't put a dent in them, and they are agricultural pests, etc., etc. Sounds a little like what they said about the Passenger Pigeon, before we wiped out what was likely the most numerous warm blooded species the planet has ever seen. I am not saying YOU are the problem, but given the chance we people seem to be able to screw up just about anything.
I have run over 115,000 rounds through one of my 1100s with one broken extractor to show for it 34 years ago. I did not shoot them all in the same weekend. Only part I have ever broken on any of them.

__________________What could have happened... did.

I do not trust Remington's dating service accuracy. If they were Match.com, you could end up with Nancy Pelosi.

As to Benellis, my clearly prejudiced view is that after laying out that much coin for a relatively simple action, no one who owns one is going to say anything bad about it. I do know several former owners who will give you an earful, and I have shot several. I am not saying they don't work.

__________________What could have happened... did.

I do not trust Remington's dating service accuracy. If they were Match.com, you could end up with Nancy Pelosi.

I understand how the action works, and that it can't reduce recoil, but just curious if the comfortech makes up for it enough to be as "soft" as a gas gun.

For me it is softer than some gas guns.

Quote:

As to Benellis, my clearly prejudiced view is that after laying out that much coin for a relatively simple action, no one who owns one is going to say anything bad about it.

If I had something bad to say I would not let the price stop me. Bad part, for me, is that it is a bit too light for trap. That can be helped with the heavier end caps. As far as price goes it is less than half of most entry level trap combos.

Quote:

1100

I have nothing against the 1100. Out of the box it is one of the best compromises for working for most shooters without fitting. I do not think it is because it fits better but is because shooters do not have as hard a time fitting themselves to that particular gun.

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Seams like once we the people give what, at the time, seams like a reasonable inch and "they" take the unreasonable mile we can only get that mile back one inch at a time.

No spelun and grammar is not my specialty. So please don't hurt my sensitive little feelings by teasing me about it.

I have nothing against the 1100. Out of the box it is one of the best compromises for working for most shooters without fitting. I do not think it is because it fits better but is because shooters do not have as hard a time fitting themselves to that particular gun.

Excellent point. Probably keeps the "get a professional stock fitting" crowd up at night.

__________________What could have happened... did.

I do not trust Remington's dating service accuracy. If they were Match.com, you could end up with Nancy Pelosi.

From those that are voting for the 1100... You keep mentioning the strict cleaning regiment to keep it running but act like it's a good thing. Is there something about the gun that makes it better than the others that completely outweighs the need to constantly maintain it

My 1100s and 11-87s need nor receive any more cleaning than any other semi-autos. Frankly, I keep all of my firearms clean, because guns are expensive, and dear old Dad taught me to take care of expensive things.

That said, the 1100 has noticeably less felt recoil than some of the other guns in this poll, and the steel receiver makes for better balance and pointability IMHO. As mentioned, there is a reason you seen so many 1100s on the clay fields.

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